Re: [tlug] Dictionary problem

[Raymond Wan <rwan.kyoto@example.com>]

On Tue, Mar 22, 2016 at 5:30 AM, Christian Horn <chorn@example.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 21, 2016 at 02:19:47PM +0000, Darren Cook wrote:
>> >>> I fail to see the technical difference between feeding Google a string and feeding an online dictionary the same string.
>> >>
>> >> My concern as customer would be that the online translation
>> >> site gets to read my content.
>> >
>> > And ? Wouldn't an online dictionary like ALC read it too ?
>>
>> We're talking the difference between typing "catheter" or "aluminium"
>> into the dictionary search engine, and typing "Our [new and top-secret
>> design] approach uses a 10mm aluminium ring in the catheter, rather than
>> the currently used 9mm rubber rings." into a translation engine.
>
> Exactly, that I had in mind.  IIRC it is established that google
> gives agencies access to mail, so also giving them fulltext search
> to the searchterms is not far away.


I think this is possible but I'm not alarmed.  I'm not so sure if a
sentence here or there is going to be of value to anyone.  Especially
if you're submitting it from some uninteresting IP address (i.e., not
a government agency).

Given the sheer volume of data, I don't even know how long Google
keeps such data around.  Or they may aggregate it immediately so that
it takes up less space on their servers (i.e., request IP address,
from what language, to what language, whether you "like" the
translation, etc.).

Arguably, the ones using e-mail to exchange information that agencies
would be interested in are probably encrypting their messages.
Likewise, those that are translating text that Google Translate should
not give to a third party would probably be translating using off-line
resources.

IMHO, I thought a company would stipulate that translators not use
Google or any machine translation simply to weed out lazy translators.
After all, they are paying translators "well" (I guess?).  Maybe to
them, dragging and dropping into Google Translate is like the
translator subcontracting out to unpaid labour with no guarantee of
service...  :-)

Ray